Meadville, PA – The Oberlin College football team dug itself a big hole early and was never able to recover as the Allegheny College Gators held off the Yeomen, 26-21, on Saturday night at Frank Fuhrer Field.
 
The Yeomen trailed 20-0 after one quarter and tried to fight back, but the Gators did just enough to hold on to snap their 22-game losing streak and personal three-game skid against the Yeomen.
 
Freshman Jubreel Hason picked off Logan Lee on the Gators' first drive, but the Yeomen gave the ball right back  - going 3-and-out - to setup a big first quarter for the Gators.
 
Allegheny would get on the board on its ensuing drive as Lee found Ben Bachik for a 29-yard TD to go up 7-0. It would then be the Gators' defense that came up big as Travis Thomas stepped in front of a Zach Taylor pass and returned it 51 yards for a touchdown.
 
The third first-quarter touchdown by the Gators came courtesy of Lee as he scampered 46 yards past the Yeomen defense into the endzone.
 
Oberlin settled down in the second quarter and worked itself back into the game. Taking advantage of great field position, the Yeomen would get on the board on a 23-yard touchdown run by Khalil Rivers with 12:23 left in the opening half.
 
As the second quarter wore on the two teams would each trade a pair of fumbles, before the Yeomen finally capitalized on the second miscue. Brendan Mapes jumped on a loose ball at the Allegheny 4-yardline, setting up the Yeomen with a 1^st-and-goal. Taylor would do the rest from there as he scored his first collegiate rushing touchdown to make it a 20-14 game at the intermission.  
 
The Gators were looking to increase their margin early in the third quarter, but Anthony Allen broke through the line and blocked Ben Ziolkowski's 28-yard field goal attempt.
 
Allegheny would eventually increase its cushion to 23-14 as Ziolkowski would convert on their next drive from 22-yards out.
 
Looking to cut into the deficit, Oberlin let a promising opportunity go by the wayside as a costly holding penalty erased a potential 1^st-and-goal situation and they ultimately had to settle for a 39-yard field goal attempt that was no good.
 
After an early fourth-quarter field goal, the Yeomen were down 12 points and picked a good time to respond with their best drive of the game. Taylor marched his squad 74 yards on 11 plays, capping the three-minute 19-second jaunt with a 6-yard TD toss to Robby Reinheimer to cut the lead down to five.
 
With 5:50 left in the game, the Gators tried to give the Yeomen a prime scoring opportunity. On fourth down from the Yeomen 48-yardline, a shotgun snap was sent way over the head of  Lee back to the Allegheny 32-yardline where Lee fell on the ball. However, an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty on the Yeomen resulted in them taking over at the Gator-48 instead.
 
Oberlin was able to get one first down to the Gators' 35-yard line, but they would stall out from there, turning the ball over on downs with four minutes to go.
 
The Gators would never let Oberlin have the ball again, getting two first downs to milk the clock and end their losing streak.
 
Taylor finished 17-of-28 passing for 134 yards. Reinheimer was his top target with five catches for 78 yards, which included his 6-yard score. Rivers led the ground attack with a season-high 93 yards on 16 carries.
 
Justin Bute, Bennett Jackson and Luis Solorzano led the defense with nine tackles each.
 
The loss dropped the Yeomen to 0-5 overall and 0-4 in NCAC play. Allegheny moved to 1-4 and 1-3 in league play.
 
It will be another test for Oberlin next week as it travels to No. 23 Wabash College. Kickoff is set for 2 p.m.